Ex-bar owner banned for life after attack on two pub-goers in Sydney’s south, stomped on man’s head

A Sydney bar owner has been banned from the industry for life after a conviction for violently assaulting two patrons.

John Quinlan, 59, the former co-owner of JD’s Bar and Grill in Cronulla in Sydney’s south, had been drinking heavily at the venue with the two victims before he attacked them on October 13, 2019.

CCTV footage shows Mr Quinlan stomping on a man’s head, pushing a woman into a brick wall and punching and shoving the two victims as they lay in a stairwell.

The 15-minute assault was described by liquor and gaming authorities as being done in a ‘very vicious, undisciplined way to the point [the victims] were seriously injured and required hospitalisation’

The trio had been drinking heavily before the man and woman were carried downstairs, where the assault took place. 

John Quinlan (pictured) was ordered to do more than 200 hours of intensive community service, has two apprehended violence orders against him for two years – and faces a life ban from the liquor and gaming industry

The victims were seriously injured, needing to be hospitalised with the man sustaining fractured ribs and facial injuries. 

Philip Crawford, from the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority, said: ‘For some reason, an altercation occurred and Mr Quinlan for 15 minutes assaulted in a very vicious, undisciplined way to the point they were seriously injured and required hospitalisation.’ 

Mr Quinlan was convicted of two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in Sutherland Local Court and given a two-year Apprehended Personal Violence Order for the victims’ protection.

He was also sentenced to more than 200 hours of intensive community service.  

Mr Quinlan was caught out on CCTV (pictured) stomping on a man on the ground in 2019

Details of the case were issued on Saturday by the newly formed NSW Department of Enterprise Investment and Trade, which houses the state’s Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority.

The authority has found Mr Quinlan unfit to hold a liquor licence, manage a licensed premises or be the close associate of a licensee.

‘Clearly the community will not tolerate any licensees predisposed to this sort of behaviour and neither will the regulator,’ Mr Crawford said.

Liquor and Gaming chief executive Anthony Keon said the 15-minute assault was a shocking display of violence.

‘He’s out of the industry but a life ban will make sure he doesn’t come back,’ Mr Crawford said.

The trio drank excessively together at the Cronulla bar before the man and woman were carried downstairs (pictured)

Between July 2018 and October 2019, Mr Quinlan received eight penalty notices from NSW Police, including six for breaches of the venue’s liquor licence conditions.

He no longer works at or owns JD’s Bar and Grill.

Only two other publicans have faced the same life-ban punishment in the past five years, making it a rare sentence.

Mr Quinlan no longer works at or owns JD’s Bar and Grill (pictured)